


Huh, That Was Weird

by TimMcGee



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Dimension 20: The Unsleeping City
Genre: Firefighters, Gen, Minor Injuries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Swearing, first 2 chapters are being updated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-01-31 14:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21447565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimMcGee/pseuds/TimMcGee
Summary: It's New York City and Ricky is an emergency responder, weird things happen all the time. Some moments start to stick out more than others after the last Santa Con.Or 4 times Ricky noticed something weird, and the one time Ester figured it out.
Comments: 38
Kudos: 76





	1. Questing Blade

**Author's Note:**

> Currently in the process of updating the first 2 chapters before posting other chapters.
> 
> This chapter isn't quite canon, but close enough. 
> 
> Mild description of injuries.  
Also, I'm not from New York nor have I ever been so please ignore the inaccurate stuff about locations within the city!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I'm currently re-writing the first 2 chapters of this before I continue on with the rest of this.

“I’m tellin’ ya, Ricky. I have a bunch of people that I can set you up with!”

“Oh, um. I’m fine. I’m just really focused on my career right now.”

“Well, thank you for lunch, again. I don’t know how you find so many of those little hideaway places,” Emiko fondly says while shaking her head at Ricky’s avoidance towards being set-up for dates.

“Well, uh, John tells me about them after his dates, but otherwise, they had a kitchen fire that we put out,” Ricky explains as he follows Emiko back to her nurse’s station carrying the leftovers for her. Emiko takes the bag from him as she ducks into the nurse's breakroom while Ricky absentmindedly fiddles with his backpack straps as he waits. When she comes back out to say bye to Ricky, an emergency response call comes in about a major accident that the hospital needs to prepare for the influx of patients. Emiko and Ricky share a brief hug before Ricky leaves, ready to spend the rest of his day off running errands. 

As Ricky is walking down the hallway from Emiko’s station, he notices a wall phone ringing further down, and he usually wouldn’t have thought much more about it, except the phone is glowing and flashing bright red. He feels his duty to protect and save rear its head. Seeing a nurse rushing down the hallway towards him, Ricky tries to ask, “Hey, are you going to answer or -?”

“Hmm? Oh, that’s just the maintenance phone. Just let it ring,” the nurse dismisses as they continue towards the emergency room.

“But it’s- Um, well...” Ricky stutters before looking at the phone again and feeling something deep in his soul as he picks up the phone, “Hello-?“

“KINGSTON! Kingston! FINALLY! I need your help, man! I was following the trail of-of the stolen Gramercy artifacts and-,” Ricky hears a loud crash followed by the speaker saying under his breath, “ _ not good- _ ”

A snarling hiss nearly drowns out the caller as he continues,” well I-I found the pieces and who took them- AAAAA MOTHERFUCKER-,” as the caller’s cursing turns into grunts of pain and sounds of him running, Ricky knows he needs to help, “ Lincoln Wharf, Dock B. I need help now. HURRY.”  _ Click _ .

Ricky has a brief thought of getting Kingston, but as a couple of more nurses head towards the emergency room, Ricky figures that even if he found Kingston, the hospital needs him more, and the caller is in trouble right now. Ricky takes off towards the wharf with his backpack bouncing against his back, his belief in helping those in need seemingly blesses him with extra speed and endurance. 

Barely out of breath as he arrives at the wharf, Ricky keeps jogging towards a building that’s emitting a weird aura. A similar aura that he feels when he’s looking for the dangerous spots in a burning building or the piece of guardrail giving out on a bridge. Approaching the building a bit more cautiously, Ricky is relieved to see its labeled Dock B and sees scorch marks and some glinting piles of ash on the ground and more through the open doorway.

Ducking behind some shipping crates to adjust to the dimness of the warehouse, Ricky feels something pulling him to one side of the building, away from the darker weird aura. Staying low as he runs along a wall of crates before cutting through a small alley in the wall, Ricky comes across an injured, barely conscious person lying heavily injured on the ground. 

Dropping down next to them, Ricky takes his emergency first aid kit out of his backpack and starts pulling banadages and neosporin out to wrap the bleeding slash wounds. As he’s getting things ready, Ricky checks their pulse and is a bit surprised to see two small, sluggishly bleeding puncture marks on their neck, eerily similar to the marks Emiko made for Halloween when she went as a vampire. 

Pressing down on the wound with one hand, Ricky reaches for a bandage with the other when there’s a brief bright flash of sunlight that shines on his hand that’s applying pressure. Ricky briefly flicks a look up at the ceiling for a skylight but is immediately distracted by the feeling of gushing liquid coming from the dude’s neck wound.

Black sticky ichor covers Ricky’s hand, and he instinctively jerks his hand away from the guy’s neck. Just in time too, as the guy suddenly sits up with a loud gasp. Ricky quickly places his clean hand on his shoulder as Ricky checks that the guy hasn’t made any of his wounds worse. As Ricky tilts his head in confusion at no longer seeing a wound on the guy’s neck, the guy rasps out, “Who-who are you? Did Kingston send you?”

“Ummmmm...”

“Did you come from the hospital??”

“Yes! I’m –“ just as Ricky was answering, something painfully strong clamps down on his shoulder before he is flung away and crashes through a crate.

“Ow.,” sitting up slightly dazed by the collison, Ricky pushes a couple of broken planks of wood off him to find himself sitting in a large crate with tons of weapons of all shapes and sizes with weird glowing energy emitting off them. The weapons give off a mixture of good and dark energies, and some seem to be literally calling for him as Ricky’s head is filled with a chorus of whispers promising all sorts of rewards in return for him wielding them.

_ Choose me, brave one-Pick me, and I will destroy your enemies- Prove yourself, and I will help you rule- Wield me, and you’ll always strike true- Choose- Pick- Claim- _

A scream of pain breaks the hold of the whispers paralyzing Ricky as he quickly looks to the man he was helping only to see an extremely pale, lanky figure with a dark, menacing aura couched over the prone man who’s now clutching a new bleeding shoulder. As the figure goes to strike again with a smug laugh and weirdly sharp-looking fingers, Ricky grabs a simple looking sword that pings  _ good _ and rushes to help. 

The sight of something cruel as attacking a person while they’re injured and finding enjoyment in that fans Ricky’s inner fire of concern, worry, and determination. Ricky hears a deep, powerful voice in his mind muse, “ _ Ah, a new wielder. Hmmm, let’s see if you’re worthy enough to wield me.” _

All Ricky thinks as he awkwardly swings the sword down is,  _ I don’t need to be worthy; I just need to help.  _ The sword, in response, glows with some sort of warmth of justice and peace just as Ricky strikes the attacking figure, who shrieks as the light from the sword begins to burn them till they’re a small pile of ash. Then the sword begins filling the entire warehouse with an intense light and divine energy as it deems Ricky a worthy Champion, and the other  _ evil _ auras Ricky had picked up earlier throughout the warehouse seemingly vanish.

Squinting through the glaring light, Ricky focuses on checking on Kingston’s friend and examines the newest wound. Ricky is suddenly filled with images and impressions of how to use this divine energy to heal and how to use it to hurt if necessary. Directing this new power to heal the various wounds on this stranger and ignoring his injuries, Ricky watches an evil feeling, dark, sluggish vapor wisp out of the wounds as they slowly close.

Once the wounds are fully healed, and the light gently fades out, Kingston’s friend sits with a look of awe and gratefulness at Ricky, amazed at this handsome, powerful warrior that rescued him.

_ You will make a fine champion. _

“Oh, umm, did you say something? Oh! Hi, I’m Ricky, by the way,” Ricky asks as he helps Nelson to his feet before setting the sword down to start packing up his first aid kit.

“Nelson. No, I didn’t, but  _ thank you _ so much,” Nelson earnestly says, before his attention drifts to the now open crate as Ricky says, “Oh, just thought you said something about being a champion.”

_ Yes, a fine champion to- _

“Hmmm?” Nelson absentmindedly responds before he accidentally kicks Ricky’s sword as he heads towards the crate. His jaw drops as he realizes what Ricky found and stutters in excitement, “That-that sword…my gods. You-you found a Questing Blade!?”

“Oh, yeah, I just grabbed it out of that crate cause you needed help. Here you can have it back.”

As Ricky says that, the blade flares bright, and an echoing shout of _ CHAMPION  _ rings out in the warehouse. Nelson jumps to explain what a Questing Blade is and what it means now that Ricky is it’s Champion, not considering how odd it is that Ricky doesn’t know despite being a Paladin of the Unsleeping City. Ricky considers the blade and the responsibility of wielding it before shaking his head and goes to say, “Oh. Cool, but I don’t know how to use a sword, and that’s not safe-“ The blade sensing what Ricky is comfortable with begins to shift and transforms into a fireman’s ax.

Picking it up and feeling the familiar weight, Ricky gives an appreciative, “Oh, sweet.”

In the brief silence that follows Nelson’s explanation and the transformation, Ricky’s phone breaks it with a loud ring, and pulling it out, he sees that it's his Fire Captain, “Ummmm, did you need any more help?”

“Nah….I think I got it from here, kid,” Nelson replies, cheerily waving Ricky off as Ricky quickly disappears out of the warehouse. Shaking his head in disbelief that he got to meet the newest Champion and got to see the City’s new paladin in action, Nelson begins searching through the crates for the rest of the stolen artifacts and hopefully a manifest that will help them figure out where they were being shipped to. As Nelson finishes checking the open crate and finding most of Gramercy’s missing weaponry, his phone starts ringing, and glancing at it, Nelson sees that it’s Kingston.

“Nelson, is everything all right? I just saw that I had several missed calls from you.”

“Kingston! Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine now thanks to that nice young man you sent. He was a great help…could use a bit of a refresher on some City stuff, but a great help!”

“Nelson, what are you talking about? I’ve been dealing with an emergency all morning, and this is the first chance I’ve had to return your calls.”

“What… no…no, you answered the Hospital’s mainline, and sent help. Kingston….KINGSTON tell me that you picked up the phone and sent Ricky.”

“Nelson, no! I didn’t! I was with patients. What did you even need help for?”

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, who the fuck was that. OOOOOoooh fuck no, oh no, oh no, fuck, he has the QUESTING BLADE.”

“ExCUSE ME?!”

Meanwhile across town with no idea of the panic he is causing to the various leaders of the Unsleeping City, Ricky walks into the fire station with his brand new fireman’s ax and a vague thought of  _ huh, that was weird _ before meeting with his Captain to find out what chores Helen was assigned before she went home sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for the kudos and comments :D


	2. Fire Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People are normally very grateful when they are saved from fires which leads to a wide array of showing their gratefulness. Though Ricky does have to admit, this time was different in a good wide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Descriptions of an apartment building fire.

Siren and horn blaring, the fire engine rushes its way through the midday traffic towards the apartment fire. Inside the truck, Ricky watches the serious faces of his co-workers as they finish putting on and situating their equipment in comfortable and functional positions while listening to the relay of information that the first response team reporting back to them. As their firetruck came to a hard stop next to the first crew’s truck, Ricky’s crew is already in motion and heading to their assigned positions, unloading and hooking up more hoses or pulling on masks to head into the building to help clear the remaining floors as the first team is currently working on clearing the highest floors with their ladders.

Ricky and one of the Johns rush in, heading up the stairs, taking note of the damage and the marked cleared areas. As they reach the 5 th floor, they run into another pair of fighters carrying and helping people down and out of the building.

“There’s a few apartments left on the next floor.” “Need to hurry though! Smoke is really filling up and the fire’s starting to creep down!”

Acknowledging what they were saying, Ricky and John quickly let the others pass before they continue up the stairs and reaching where the hallway splits, they look up the rest of the staircase and see the fire is definitely starting to creep downwards, so they quickly reach a decision to split up to cover the remaining rooms more quickly.

Quickly kicking open closed doors or ducking into already opened apartments, Ricky is able to see that most of the apartments are clear of both people and pets, sounding off the cleared rooms thru the comms so that the other fighters know what’s happening inside as they battle the flames from the outside. As Ricky kicks open the final apartment door, he first notices the towels that were stuffed under the door as he trips over them before noticing the apartment is incredibly warm and thin layer of smoke is completely blanketing the ceiling. Recognizing that these are signs that someone must still be in the apartment, Ricky begins searching for them and is able to quickly find them as they are curled up and passed out in the hallway in front of the bathroom.

At first glance, Ricky thinks he just sees a person with long bright green hair, but as he approaches, Ricky sees that not only is the person’s hair green, but their skin is also green, though with an unnatural greyish tint to it. Dropping to his knees, Ricky gently rolls them over and as surprised to find that they hadn’t just collapsed from the heat and smoke, they are also curled around protecting a child who looks just like the parent but is still somewhat conscious. The child sluggishly blinks at the movement and looking up, gets a frightened look on their face upon seeing Ricky.

“Hey, hey. [Removes mask so the kid can see his face] I’m a firefighter! It’s gonna be ok. I’m going to get you out of here, alright?” says Ricky gently as he pulls off a glove to take the pulse of the parent. As he presses into the side of their neck, he feels like he picked a leaf up off the ground and it’s would give a good crunch if he squished it from how dry it is. Looking the pair over again, Ricky now clearly sees that what he thought was originally green hair is instead a mix of brightly colored vines and flowers on the child and as he looks at the parent, some of their vines and flowers begin to shrink and wither as if the water is being sucked out of them.

Knowing time is running out as the smoke starts to get even thicker in the apartment, Ricky quickly stands and goes into the bathroom gathering towels and praying the water will come out when he turns the sink on. As Ricky prays and reaches a hand out to turn on the sink, he sees that his hand seems to be glowing before he feels like his stomach is yanked up into his chest as the sink turns on with a horrendous groaning noise and shudder before water comes gushing out.

Normally Ricky knows the best would be just to get the smallest towels damp to place over their mouths, but as he goes to do that, his ax whispers to him… _ Champion, the towels need to be soaking… _ and Ricky listens, quickly soaking all the towels. Turning back to the pair, Ricky takes the largest towel and wraps the child so that everything but their face is covered, and uses the smaller towels to fully wrap the parent’s head and part of their torso.

“Ok, kiddo. I’m gonna pick you up and put you in my jacket so I can carry you and your parent, ok?” says Ricky in a soothing tone as he unzips his jacket and picks up the kid and gets them situated so that they’re secure but won’t heed too much of his mobility, “Alright, there ya go. Uff, ok, got your parent, time to get out of here!”

Ricky picks up the parent in a fireman’s carry, straps his mask back on, and does one last check to make sure the kid is secure and not breathing in more smoke, before hurrying back towards the stairs. Stepping out into the hallway, Ricky sees that the flames have crept down even further and they need to get out now. He breathes a sigh of relief when he spots John rushing back from the other end carrying a pet. Just before they reach the stairs, they hear terrible roaring noise followed by a long groan then an alarming crack, and they both look up in time to dive back as a large beam comes crashing down, sending a mushroom cloud of flames upwards and out and a hail of burning materials down and out.

“John?!”

“Ricky! Damn!”

Standing up, Ricky quickly checks his rescues are ok, before looking over to see John trapped on the other side of the fallen burning beam that’s now lodged across the hallway, blocking John’s access to the stairs. Realizing this and knowing the beam is too big for him to quickly get through with his ax and the angle is too wonky to get over or under, John takes a moment to steel himself and consider where else he can go as he shouts at Ricky, “Ricky, you gotta go on without me!! You got people! I can probably…probably get to a window to call a ladder!”

Looking at the beam and filled with a strong sense of duty and determination, Ricky grips his ax and says, “Not leaving anyone behind, John.” Ricky swings the ax at the high side of beam of where it’s lodged, and as the ax hits, it glows with light and Ricky has never felt stronger and more confident that he’ll succeed. With a mighty CRACK, Ricky cleaves thru the beam and with a large THUD, followed by a smaller thud and after a second short surge in flames and embers, the beam is laying flat on the floor in two pieces.

“Hell yEAH RICKY! Gym time’s been paying off! Let’s get out of here!”

By the time they escape the building, they see a large group of people standing has gathered on the other sidewalk watching, a news crew is now reporting live, and the station’s paramedics have set up a relay area to check over the survivors. As John and Ricky make their way over to the paramedics, John gets waylaid by the news reporters as they start to fawn/interview him on his daring rescue of the cute puppy he is holding while a tearful little boy breaks away from his parents, ducks under the barricades, and runs over to him shouting, “LUCKY!”

Ricky is able to dodge the tearful reunion as he continues over to the medics and gently lays the parent on the nearest empty gurney before they quickly swarm to take vitals and start oxygen. As the medics quickly work to remove to soaked towels from around the parent’s head, Ricky works on unstrapping the child and doing a cursory check as the focus is on the clearly weaker and more critical patient.

One of the medics looks over to Ricky, asking, “Wha-why did you use so many towels? Why are they so wet?? And over their face??”

“Oh! Uh, yeah, um they just looked really dry.”

“…..They looked dry….What??”

“Yeah, so um, like I think they might need more water.”

The medic just gives Ricky such a judging look before turning back to the now uncovered patient, who does now just appear to be very dehydrated but conscious and weakly reaches a hand out towards Ricky.

“Tha-ank you.”

“Just doing my duty,” says Ricky while he watches the medics quickly get an IV hooked up and an oxygen mask settled over the parent’s face.

“Alright, we’re gonna take you to the hospital to make sure that everything is alright, ah, Sir? Ma’am? Ok, ma’am…”

As the medic is explaining what they’ll be doing at the hospital and setting the gurney up to be moved over and then into the ambulance, Ricky unwraps the kid and carefully hands them over to their mom, avoiding the various medical devices. The medic gives a quick inspection and determines that the child should also be hooked up to some oxygen just to combat any smoke inhalation, but otherwise is completely unharmed. 

Job done, Ricky goes to say goodbye and the mom nods understandably with an awed, grateful look as she hugs her child, but as the kid sees Ricky begin to walk away they let out a little shriek. Quickly turning back, Ricky sees the kid with tears in their eyes, wobbly lip, and arms reaching out towards him. Coming back to the gurney, Ricky gently takes one of their hands and crouches down to be at the same level as them, softly saying, “Hey, hey, it’s alright. You and your mom are just gonna go to the hospital to make sure everything’s ok. I got to go back and help my friends,” Ricky turns slightly and gestures to the firefighters that are finishing putting out the fire, “You were very brave in there, and now it’s my turn to be brave.”

The little kid sniffles and rubs at their eyes while nodding at Ricky’s words and as he finishes, they turn to look with pleading eyes at their mom and make a swirly motion with their hands. The mom looks at Ricky hard, scrutinizing, before she smiles and makes a go-ahead gesture to their now beaming child. Bouncing excitedly before settling, the kid cups their hands and appears to concentrate very hard as their tongue sticks out and Ricky sees that their hands begin to glow along with the hand the mom placed on their stomach. Quickly as their hands had started glowing they stopped, and with a look of anticipation, the kid slowly opens their hands, only to immediately squeal in excitement as a daisy stands upright from their hands. Bouncing in excitement, they thrust the flower out to Ricky and he gently takes saying, “Is this for me? [Happy nodding] Thank you! I’ll be sure to keep it safe!”

Ricky carefully places the flower inside of his overalls so that it wouldn’t get squished, and the medic seeing the moment is mostly over, briefly curious where the kid got the flower from, gently cuts in, “Ricky, I’m sorry man, we need to get them to the hospital.” Nodding in understanding, Ricky stands up and steps out of their way, and waves goodbye to the pair as they’re wheeled away, the kid still pouting as they leave and the mom laying back in a mix of relief and happiness.

Later, when the crew returns to the fire station exhausted but also elated as they didn’t lose anyone in the fire. Sitting on the bench slowly taking off his dirty gear, Ricky carefully pulls out the daisy, pleased to see that it’s only slightly crushed. Placing it in his locker for safekeeping, Ricky hits the showers and washes away all the grime and sweat from the job, and feels a bit more human when he’s done. Ricky gently takes the flower with him after he’s changed and is heading up to the kitchen to see if anyone has started cooking yet and to find a vase or something to place the flower in.

Seeing someone had started a large pot of chili, Ricky digs through the cabinets looking for a vase and makes a happy noise as he manages to find one wedged in the back of a cabinet. Ricky cleans the vase and carefully dries it off before filling it up with some water and then carries it over the dining table. Ricky puts the flower into the vase and it immediately bursts into an entire bouquet of daisies and other wildflowers. As Ricky arranges the flowers to sit nicely in the vase, he thinks,  _ Huh, weird. Didn’t know flowers could do that  _ before he’s distracted by members of the crew coming in for food and a little bit of teasing seeing Ricky with flowers.


End file.
